Major Mike | Today in History 10/16 (John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry)

Fallen trees across a suburban street after the Great Storm in southern England, October 17, 1987 (© John Downing/Getty Images)

(1859) An abolitionist attacks an armory at Harpers Ferry

Inspired by his anti-slavery beliefs, and enraged by pro-slavery violence, abolitionist John Brown launches an armed assault on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown and his small band of supporters is no match for the US Marines that will be called out against him.

The Great Storm of 1987 was a violent extratropical cyclone that occurred on the night of 15–16 October, with hurricane-force winds causing casualties in England, France and the Channel Islands as a severe depression in the Bay of Biscay moved northeast. Among the most damaged areas were Greater London, the East Anglian coast, the Home Counties, the west of Brittany and the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy which weathered gusts typically with a return period of 1 in 200 years.

Michael Fish is resigned to the nation remembering only part of his famous forecast – ‘Hurricane Fish’ still wouldn’t have been predicted today.
wiki/John_Brown’s_raid_on_Harpers_Ferry

4.15.A18

(1859) An abolitionist attacks an armory at Harpers Ferry.
Also on this day,

1916 | Margaret Sanger’s first family planning clinic opens

America’s first family planning clinic opens in Brooklyn, New York, breaking that state’s laws by dispensing birth control and educating patients on contraception. The clinic’s founder, nurse Margaret Sanger, will be arrested nine days later, and become known as a birth control pioneer.

1969 | Major-league upset as ‘Miracle Mets’ stun Baltimore, win World Series

The New York Mets—who had never finished with a winning record and started the season as a 100-1 longshot to win the World Series—complete a dramatic turnaround. The Mets defeat the star-studded Baltimore Orioles in game five at Shea Stadium to win the series.

1987 | Britain hit with devastating, unexpected Great Storm of 1987

Expecting only minor trouble on the south coast, most Britons are shocked when a deadly cyclone packing hurricane-force winds slams into England with gusts as high as 122-mph that uproot trees, tear buildings apart, cause £2 billion of damage, and kill 22.

Today in History ^10/16/17

Margaret Sanger poses before leaving Brooklyn Court of Special Sessions after her arraignment in New York in October 1916 (© AP)

(1916) Margaret Sanger's first family planning clinic opens

America's first family planning clinic opens in Brooklyn, New York, breaking that state's laws by dispensing birth control and educating patients on contraception. The clinic's founder, nurse Margaret Sanger, will be arrested nine days later, and become known as a birth control pioneer.

Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control", opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Lived: Sep 14, 1879 - Sep 06, 1966 (age 86)
Spouse: James Noah (m. 1922 - 1943) · William Sanger (m. 1902 - 1921)
Founded: Planned Parenthood · American Birth Control League · International Planned Parenthood Federation
Children: Peggy Sanger (Daughter) · Stuart Sanger (Son) · Grant Sanger (Son)
Movies: Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed · Birth Control
Siblings: Bob Higgins (Brother) · Ethel Bryne (Sister)
Highlights
1914: In August 1914 Margaret Sanger was indicted for violating postal obscenity laws by sending the The Woman Rebel through the postal system.

1916: On October 16, 1916 Sanger opened a family planning and birth control clinic at 46 Amboy Street in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, the first of its kind in the United States.

1921: After World War I, Sanger shifted away from radical politics, and she founded the American Birth Control League (ABCL) in 1921 to enlarge her base of supporters to include the middle class.

1922: In 1922 she married her second husband, James Noah H. Slee.

1966: In 1966, Planned Parenthood began issuing its Margaret Sanger Awards annually to honor "individuals of distinction in recognition of excellence and leadership in furthering reproductive health and reproductive rights."

1966: Sanger died of congestive heart failure in 1966 in Tucson, Arizona, aged 86, about a year after the U.S. Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut, which legalized birth control in the United States.